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CDayton.com Top Ten - 5 Star Pick for Web Hosting:
Web Hosting Technical Terms
continued... hit As used in reference to the World Wide Web, 'hit' means a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 'hits' would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics. 'hits' are often used as a very rough measure of load on a server, e.g. 'Our server has been getting 300,000 hits per month.' Because each 'hit' can represent anything from a request for a tiny document (or even a request for a missing document) all the way to a request that requires some significant extra processing (such as a complex search request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost impossible to define. Home Page (or Homepage) Several meanings. Originally, the web page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. 'Check out so-and-so's new Home Page.' Another sloppier use of the term refers to practically any web page as a 'homepage,' e.g. 'That web site has 65 homepages and none of them are interesting.' Host Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW and USENET. Hosting This term can be used to refer to the housing of a web site, email or a domain. See Email hosting and Web Site hosting for more details. HTML (HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear, additionally, in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape or Mosaic. HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol) -- The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW). Hypertext Generally, any text that contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed. Impression Term used to describe when a banner advertisement is loaded on a web page and displayed to a user. Also referred to as Exposure. Index Server Index Server indexes the contents and properties of documents on an Internet or intranet Web site served by IIS 4.0. Index Server enables Web clients with any browser to search a Web site by filling in the fields of an HTML query form. Internet (Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and early 70's. The Internet now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast global internet. internet (Lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state. InterNIC InterNIC (now known as Network Solutions) currently holds an exclusive contract with the U.S. government to assign domain names for .COM, .NET and .ORG. The contract is scheduled to expire September 30, 1998. Network Solutions is the company that runs the InterNIC registry. Intranet A private network inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet, but that is only for internal use. As the Internet has become more popular many of the tools used on the Internet are being used in private networks, for example, many companies have web servers that are available only to employees. Note that an Intranet may not actually be an internet -- it may simply be a network. IP Number (Internet Protocol Number) -- Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.165.113.245.2 Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) -- Basically a huge multi-user live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC servers around the world which are linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel and anything that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all others in the channel. Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person conference calls. ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) -- Basically a way to move more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly becoming available to much of the USA and in most markets it is priced very comparably to standard analog phone circuits. It can provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over regular phone lines. In practice, most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000 bits-per-second. ISP (Internet Service Provider) -- An institution that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money. Java Java is a network-oriented programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your computer or files. Using small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other fancy tricks. We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to the Web using Java, since you can write a Java program to do almost anything a regular computer program can do, and then include that Java program in a Web page. Kilobyte A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (210) bytes. LAN (Local Area Network) -- A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building. Leased-line Refers to a phone line that is rented for exclusive 24-hour, 7 -days-a-week use from your location to another location. The highest speed data connections require a leased line. Listserv The most common kind of maillist, Listservs originated on BITNET but they are now common on the Internet. Login Noun or a verb. Noun: The account name used to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password). Verb: The act of entering into a computer system, e.g. Login to the WELL and then go to the GBN conference. Maillist (or Mailing List) A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist. In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access can participate in discussions together. Megabyte A million bytes. A thousand kilobytes. MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface -- A network and accompanying protocol developed in the 1970's for transmitting various information between musical and other devices including keyboards, samplers, lights, controllers, etc. MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) -- The standard for attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages. Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents, sound files, etc. An email program is said to be MIME Compliant if it can both send and receive files using the MIME standard. When non-text files are sent using the MIME standard they are converted (encoded) into text - although the resulting text is not really readable. Generally speaking the MIME standard is a way of specifying both the type of file being sent (e.g. a QuicktimeÅ video file), and the method that should be used to turn it back into its original form. Besides email software, the MIME standard is also universally used by Web Servers to identify the files they are sending to Web Clients, in this way new file formats can be accommodated simply by updating the Browsers' list of pairs of MIME-Types and appropriate software for handling each type. Mirror Generally speaking, 'to mirror' is to maintain an exact copy of something. Probably the most common use of the term on the Internet refers to 'mirror sites' which are web sites, or FTP sites that maintain exact copies of material originated at another location, usually in order to provide more widespread access to the resource. Another common use of the term 'mirror' refers to an arrangement where information is written to more than one hard disk simultaneously, so that if one disk fails, the computer keeps on working without losing anything. Modem (MOdulator, DEModulator) -- A device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer to talk to other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems do for computers what a telephone does for humans. Modify (Domain Name) The database that the TLD registries maintain need to be accurate in order for name resolution, billing, renewal notices and public records to be processed correctly. Typically modifications are required when nameservers need to change or the contacts change email or postal address or phone number. The procedures for modifying records will depend on the registry. Mosaic The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic really started the popularity of the Web. The source-code to Mosaic has been licensed by several companies and there are several other pieces of software as good or better than Mosaic, most notably, Netscape. MX Record: Mail Exchange Mail Exchange record is part of the zone file and is used to designate which mail server machine should process email for a specific domain. mySQL mySQL is a database server. It is commonly coupled with PHP to provide a way for users to access data stored in the database from the web. It is commonly found on Unix servers. NT Windows NT® is Microsoft's® 32-bit operating system developed from what was originally intended to be OS/2 3.0 before Microsoft ®and IBM ceased joint development of OS/2. Used by web hosting companies in the network environment to offer customers support for Microsoft base products such as MS Access®, MS SQL® 7.0, and FrontPage® 2000. Name Servers A computer that performs the mapping of easily remembered domain names to IP addresses. Sometimes referred to as a host server. Netiquette The etiquette on the Internet. See Also: Internet Network Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an internet. Newsgroup The name for discussion groups on USENET. See Also: USENET NIC (Networked Information Center) -- Generally, any office that handles information for a network. The most famous of these on the Internet is Network Solutions, which is where new domain names are registered. Another definition: NIC also refers to Network Interface Card which plugs into a computer and adapts the network interface to the appropriate standard. ISA, PCI, and PCMCIA cards are all examples of NICs. NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) -- The protocol used by client and server software to carry USENET postings back and forth over a TCP/IP network. If you are using any of the more common software such as Netscape, Nuntius, Internet Explorer, etc. to participate in newsgroups then you are benefiting from an NNTP connection. Node Any single computer connected to a network. OC-3 Refers to a circuit that transmits 155,000,000 bits per second. This is the size of the largest Internet backbone providers networks.
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